Christa Larwood and Kris Davidson were in Austin earlier this year researching for Lonely Planet’s “Great Escape – Texas” article that was published in the June 2105 Lonely Planet Traveler magazine. The team visited Austin as well as Lockhart, Bandera, Big Bend National Park, and Marfa, taking in everything from live music, food trucks and poetry slams, to BBQ, dude ranches, Texan art, and canoe trips on the Rio Grande. Kinda comprehensive! The Austin Detours team was honored to escort Christa and Kris around Austin, using a specially-crafted version of our Real Austin Tour to showcase the very best our city offers.

Austin highlights featured in the Lonely Planet article include our good friend Leo Mendoza’s Churro Co on Riverside, who was quoted: “A local chef once said that traditional restaurants are like cruise liners, and food trucks are like pirate ships. I guess that makes a pirate.” Way to go Leo! Also mentioned were Book People, Uncommon Objects (which somehow became Uncommon Things!), the bats at Congress Avenue Bridge, Rainey Street, SOCO, the Continental Club, and Minister Sin at the Spider House Ballroom. We think the Lonely Planet team did an awesome job getting under Austin’s skin and appreciating what makes this truly great city tick. It’s a shame they missed out on a festival or UT football game but these can come next time.

Lonely Planet is the world’s largest travel guide book publisher, and has sold hundreds of millions of books, digital copies, and apps since it opened for business in 1972. It’s a big organization these days but its roots are in helping backpackers find cheap culture-packed ways around the world. Austin Detours enjoyed playing a part in helping today’s Austin get some great exposure with this global travel authority. Hopefully Christa and Kris will be back in town soon. You can read more (a lot more!) here: http://www.lonelyplanet.com